13/07/2026

MONDAY | JULY 13, 2026

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COMMENT by Prof Dr Yusniza Kamarulzaman

F ROM a baby’s first smile to the first day of school, parents share life’s happiest moments online every day. Social media has become our modern family album, helping us celebrate milestones and stay connected with loved ones. Yet, every post also creates something far more lasting: a child’s digital footprint and, ultimately, their digital reputation. In a world where social media rewards visibility, what attracts attention is not always what best protects a child’s privacy. Researchers refer to this growing trend as “sharenting”, the practice of parents sharing photographs, videos and personal information about their children online. While sharenting can strengthen relationships and preserve family memories, the real question is not whether parents should share but how much they share and whether they have considered the long-term impact on their children’s privacy. Every parent is now a publisher From a marketing perspective, every social media post tells a story about who we are and what we value. Parents are no different. Every photo shared contributes not only to the family’s online image but also to a child’s digital identity. Years ago, family albums stayed at home. Today, every parent has become a publisher, with an audience that can extend far beyond relatives and friends. Like brands, digital reputations are built one post at a time. Unlike brands, children have no say in the image being created for them. Although every post may seem innocent at the time, the reality is that once a photograph or personal detail is shared online, parents have little control over where it may end up. Images can be copied, downloaded, altered or reshared without permission while a child’s digital identity begins to take shape long before they are old enough to decide how they want to be seen online. Research has highlighted a number of potential risks associated with excessive sharenting, including permanent digital footprints, identity theft, the misuse of children’s photographs, digital kidnapping, online grooming and the gradual loss of children’s privacy and autonomy. Every online post becomes part of

Are we sharing too much of our children?

were treated between August and December 2024 – is the sustainable public deserves to know who approved each cut and where does the timber go? DBKL may be legally entitled to cut these trees but safety and survival are not the same thing. As the mercury threatens to hit record highs, stripping the city of its canopy is not just bad policy; it is dangerous. Kuala Lumpur’s future is not in the axe; it is in the shade. Awalludin Ramlee Kuala Lumpur path. 0 Be transparent: The play a powerful role in safeguarding children’s digital privacy. One finding from our study should give every parent pause. While many parents said they only shared photos or information about their children occasionally, 42.2% still used public privacy settings when posting. This means that even if parents are not frequent posters, their children’s photos and personal details may still be visible to anyone on the internet. Only about one-third of the parents surveyed kept their child-related posts private. This highlights an important reality: the biggest risk is not always how often we share but who has access to what we share. A single public post can travel far beyond its intended audience, making it worth taking a moment to check who can actually see our children’s digital lives. Recognising these growing concerns, Unicef Malaysia has encouraged parents to think carefully about sharenting, reminding families that every post contributes to a child’s digital identity and that privacy settings alone cannot eliminate all online risks. Final thought This is not a call to stop sharing but a call to share more thoughtfully. In marketing, we often say that reputation takes years to build but only seconds to damage. The same is true for our children’s digital identity. Every click leaves a trace and every post shapes the story others may one day tell about them. While we cannot control everything that happens online, we can decide what we share, who can see it and how we protect the privacy, dignity and future of the people who matter most. Dr Yusniza Kamarulzaman is a professor of marketing at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

many residents remain unconvinced. In Bangsar, activist Chandran Nair watched 30- to 40-year-old trees reduced to stumps – trees that had been cleared as safe by an arborist. According to Nair, DBKL officers are rarely present at these sites; instead, the work is carried out by contractors. His question is simple: “Where is the paperwork and where did the wood go?” Adding insult to injury, DBKL has allegedly left more than 200 stumps rotting in the Lucky Garden and Bukit Bangsar areas over the past decade, without returning to replant them. The directive to plant 100 trees for every one felled remains, quite the digital identity children will one day inherit. It is the children who may one day live with the consequences of an online identity they never chose. Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia’s most digitally connected societies, where social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp have become an integral part of family life. At the same time, our culture places great value on close family ties and it is common for grandparents, relatives and friends to share photos of children as a way of expressing love and celebrating special moments. Protecting a child’s privacy is no longer the sole responsibility of parents. It requires everyone around the child to be mindful of what they share online. With legal protections specifically addressing oversharing still limited, parents play the most important role in safeguarding their children’s privacy and ensuring that every post is made with careful thought for its long-term impact. and stay connected with loved ones. Yet, every post also creates something far more lasting: a child’s digital footprint and, ultimately, their digital reputation. “Social media has become our modern family album, helping us celebrate milestones

In marketing, we often say that reputation takes years to build but only seconds to damage. The same is true for our children’s digital identity. Every click leaves a trace and every post shapes a story others may one day tell about them. – FREEPIK

What encourages parents to protect their children? Our study involving 161 Malaysian parents offers an encouraging insight: parents are generally willing to adopt safer online sharing habits when they understand the risks and feel empowered to protect their children. As both a marketing researcher and a parent, I believe the question is no longer whether we should share our children’s lives online but also whether we are sharing them wisely. Those who recognised the seriousness of online privacy threats

believed that their own child could be affected, trusted that safer sharing practices could make a difference, and felt confident using privacy settings were more likely to think carefully before posting. Parents were also more likely to adopt safer sharing habits when they did not see these precautions as inconvenient. Most importantly, the study found that parents with a stronger desire to protect their children’s well-being were significantly more likely to practise safer sharenting, showing that awareness and motivation can

LETTERS letters@thesundaily.com

Stop the chop: DBKL’s tree-felling badly timed BY the end of this month, DBKL will have felled 90 “high-risk” trees across the capital. The reason given: public safety. literally, a dead letter. The Malaysian Meteorological Department has warned that the southwest monsoon will bring hotter and drier conditions, increasing the risk of fires and haze.

The urban heat island effect has already made built-up areas up to 3.6°C hotter than forested zones. By felling trees now, DBKL is effectively ripping out the city’s natural air conditioning just as 0 Stop the indiscriminate felling: Bring in certified arborists – not contractors – to assess each tree properly. 0 Enforce replanting policy: Plant climate-resilient species before the heatwave arrives – not years later. 0 Maintain, don’t destroy: Regular pruning and treatment – 17,626 trees temperatures hit full throttle. What needs to happen now

Recently, the courts ordered DBKL to pay RM824,180 in damages to the family of a motorist who was killed by a falling tree along Jalan Sultan Ismail. But as Malaysia braces for a Super El Nino that could push temperatures to a blistering 40°C, is chopping down our natural air conditioners really the smartest move? Replanting promise that never happens DBKL maintains that it only fells trees deemed dangerous by experts. But

A Super El Nino event is also expected to develop from November 2026 and continue into January 2027. Urban trees are not merely decorative. They are among the city’s most cost-effective defences against rising temperatures. Studies show urban trees can reduce temperatures by up to 8°C. Without them, Kuala Lumpur’s dense concrete jungle risks becoming an urban oven.